1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for holding handheld devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a movable grip for holding handheld devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the use of handheld electronic devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and smartphones, has increased significantly. In particular, due to increased usage of large touch-screen displays, larger bar-shaped devices, which are commonly shaped as a single rectangular box, are becoming more commonly used, in contrast to other forms of handheld devices including flip, rotating, and sliding handheld devices, which generally include at least two bodies connected together. Unlike the bar-shaped devices, many of these other devices are designed to be comfortably and securely held by a user with two hands while operating the devices.
However, the design of many devices, including bar-shaped devices, for example, although allowing a user to easily access a large touch screen, may create difficulty for users to securely grip these devices with a single hand, which results in users frequently dropping and damaging their devices.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating a conventional handheld device gripped by a user's hand.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, when a user securely grips a handheld device 10 with a user's fingers extending around a back and side of the handheld device 10, a range of motion of the user's thumb is limited with respect to a front surface of the device. When the handheld device 10 includes controls, such as buttons, wheels, a touch-screen, etc. throughout a front surface and/or sides of the handheld device 10, a user may not be able to access the controls with a user's thumb in this orientation. More specifically, the user's thumb may only move with respect to the handheld device 10 through the joints of the thumb.
In order to reach other areas of the front surface of the handheld device 10 with the user's thumb, a user must either reposition the device with a similar grip, in which top or bottom fingers may no longer grip the device, or a user must use a relaxed grip, in which a user's fingers do not extend around both the back and side of the device. In either case, a user must grip the handheld device 10 less securely and/or shift the handheld device 100 with respect to the user's hand, in order for a user to access an entire range of the front surface and/or sides of the device with the user's thumb. Therefore, a user may not easily operate a handheld device 10 with one hand, while securely gripping the device with the user's fingers.
Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus for securely holding devices such as bar-shaped devices, with a single hand while allowing greater range of movement of a user's fingers while holding the device.